Symptoms and Behaviour

Autism symptoms can vary widely. Every form of autism and the behavior of each child are very individual. No wonder, it’s a spectrum! This sometimes makes a diagnosis complicated.

In the early childhood development, however, there are the following signs, which may indicate, among other things, autism:

The child does not develop language skills. It may be that the child does not have any language at the age of two or even three. Maybe they have already spoken, but after some time they “unlearn” again (a well-known phenomenon in autism). Sometimes the kids just don’t talk, even though they already understand a lot.

There is no eye contact with caregivers or it increasingly diminishes. A very typical phenomenon in autism for children (and adults) is that there is no eye contact in communication (verbal or nonverbal). This is no coincidence.

Increasing “object-relatedness” becomes more and more apparent. Toddlers learning to play develop the relationship with their caregiver while playing. For example, children laugh together with their play partner, give a clear understanding of what they want or what kind of reaction they expect. Children with autism do not usually do this. With a corresponding preference, they develop a very strong relationship to the game object, but beyond that no exchange with the caregiver takes place. The technical term for this is “triangulation”, which illustrates the triangular relationship between the two game subjects (ie the child and the caregiver) as well as the game object. Children with autism have huge difficulties with it. When our son was still a toddler, this was a very clear sign of his developmental disorder. As parents, we often felt more “used” because no relationship was possible in the game with him.

Children on the autism spectrum have increased body tension (hypertension). This can be noticed very early. Even as babies, children with autism often tend to overstretch and stretch, or abruptly discharge their body tension. They can also hit their head against objects (even while asleep). Learning to with their toes, heels and feet significantly stretched.

The phenomenon of “losing”. A special feature of children with autism is that they can no longer retrieve already learned things. So it may well be that the child has already formed single words or small sentences, but the development of the language as a whole decreases after some time. It seems that the child has “forgotten” how to speak. This may also apply to other areas (e.g., cognitive skills, interaction, etc.).

In order to develop appropriate strategies, how to deal with the suspicion of autism in your child well, or to obtain a diagnosis, you can schedule an individual consultation with us. Or continue reading the blog articles, which can help you and your child deal well with autism: